The first issue of the first run.
Steven Universe is a comic book series by KaBOOM! Comics. It is based on the cartoon of the same name.
The first series began in August of 2014 and ran for eight issues, with a short teaser story released in the Adventure Time 2013 Spooktacular. Since then, there have been a number of comics, special issues, and graphic novels for the show.
Comics and graphic novels include:
- Steven Universe (eight issues, August 2014-March 2015)
- Steven Universe: Greg Universe Special (oneshot, April 2015)
- Steven Universe and the Crystal Gems (four issues, March 2016-June 2016)
- Steven Universe: Too Cool For School (graphic novel, April 2016)
- Steven Universe: The Big Donut Special (oneshot, December 2016)
- Steven Universe (February 2017-January 2020)
- Steven Universe: Anti-Gravity (graphic novel, July 2017)
- Steven Universe: Harmony (five issues, August 2018-December 2018)
- Steven Universe: Ultimate Dough-Down (graphic novel, December 2018)
- Steven Universe: Fusion Frenzy (oneshot, March 2019)
- Steven Universe: Camp Pining Play (graphic novel, April 2019)
- Steven Universe: Crystal Clean (graphic novel, May 2020)
This comic books in general provides examples of:
- Interquel: Steven Universe often has noticeable changes to its status quo, but the shows and comic are made separately
with significant lead time. Consequently, the comics are often set earlier than the show at their time of publication. - Shout-Out: Has its own section on the Steven Universe Shout-Out page.
Examples for specific titles:
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Steven Universe (2014-2015)
- Schrödinger's Canon: This comic series is described by Ian Jones-Quartey
as "Level 2 canon", basically saying they're canon unless the show contradicts them. - Short-Runners: Lasted eight issues and two collected volumes.
Issue #4
- Identical Stranger: Ronaldo and Steven find a fashion model in a magazine who looks like Garnet. Steven doesn't see the resemblance, but Ronaldo thinks Garnet is the model. When Garnet tries to disprove this by showing off her magic powers, Ronaldo concludes that models are magic, and Connie finds another model who looks like Pearl.
Issue #5
- Sick Episode: Pearl shows human-like flu symptoms from putting a corrupted Gem in her gemstone in "Library".
- Sneeze of Doom: When Pearl gets sick, her sneezes are forceful enough to spit out items from her gemstone.
Greg Universe Special
Steven Universe and the Crystal Gems
- Universal-Adaptor Cast: Steven tells a scary story where Garnet plays the (human) babysitter and the children are Onion and Amethyst's baby form.
Too Cool for School
- Chekhov's Gun: The salty tacos from Taco Tuesday prove to be salty enough to shrink the Gem mollusk.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The mollusk that the Gems apparently manage to subdue shows up at Connie's school, causing devastation.
- Dean Bitterman: Principal Sandoval, who threatens to expel Connie after the school is severely damaged. After Mrs. Lezner shows Sandoval Connie's test results (with Connie answering two extra credit questions correctly for 104%), the principal ultimately relents from suspending Connie if Steven agrees not to return. Later, when Steven does show up from escorting Connie to school when the new school year starts, she presents Steven with his own honorary permanent record, decorated with praise ribbon stickers for helping to save the school.
- First Day of School Episode: It's Steven's first time attending a school.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Principal Sandoval, who starts out as a Dean Bitterman authority figure, is preparing to suspend Connie for the rest of the school year and assign Connie to summer school classes. She ultimately relents when Mrs. Lezner shows the test results: Connie got two extra credit questions right for 104%, while Steven got one extra credit question right and missed the other for 102%. Sandoval decides not to suspend Connie if Steven agrees not to show up at school again. Later, as the new school year begins, Sandoval notices Steven, and she presents him with his own permanent record, which is filled with praise ribbon stickers for saving the school.
The Big Donut Special
Steven Universe (2017-2020)
- Interquel: The comic started while the show was late in season four and began set around the same time. However, the comic was demonstrably set before season five until a year after that's season's premiere.
- Multi-Part Episode: Issues 25-27 are one whole story focused on Steven and Connie visiting the Off Colors while they're trying to escape from Emerald.
- Recycled Title: Uses the same title as the original run.
Issue #1
- Hand Gagging: Lapis covers up Peridot's mouth when the latter tries to name the baby bird they found "Percy".
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Steven, Lapis, and Peridot are told by the wildlife center that caring for wild baby birds is illegal without a permit. Steven, while disheartened, complies. Lapis and Peridot, however, decide to ignore the law and take the baby bird in anyway.
Issue #2
- Costume-Test Montage: Happens in a series of selfies as Stevonnie and Kiki try on prom clothes.
- High-School Dance: Kiki takes Stevonnie to her high school's prom.
- Mundane Utility: Steven and Connie fuse together to get into a PG-13 film. It fails, because their suspicious behavior lead to them being carded, and they only had Connie's library card.
- Vague Age: Stevonnie says they'll have to wait until they're old enough for a drivers license to see PG-13 movies, whereupon they begin to wonder "How old AM I?"
Issue #3
- Our Slogan Is Terrible: "Fish Stew Pizza: Better Than it Sounds™"
Issue #4
- Mistaken Age: Everyone at the Renaissance Fair assumes Peridot is a child. This causes many of the issue's problems, as she doesn't understand why the staff are treating her like this, while their attempts to treat her like a child bruise her oblivious ego.Attendant: So that'll be two regular admissions and one, uh—yeah, sure one under-12 ticket.
Peridot: Under 12 what??
Issue #5
- The Greatest Story Never Told: Steven and Connie assume Lion didn't do anything all day because he ended up sleeping in the same spot they last saw him.
Issue #6
- Interquel: Judging by Amethyst's outfits, it takes place some time between "Reformed" and "Crack the Whip". It's possible that's just a coloring error, though.
- Pro Wrestling Episode: The Crystal Gems return to Beach City pro wrestling circuit, and this time Pearl joins in.
- Series Continuity Error: Amethyst and Steven said to have stopped wrestling sometime before this, but "Tiger Philanthropist" would show the two kept it up offscreen until well into the fourth season.
Issue #7
- Call-Back:
- The Crystal Gems use the boat they had in "Cat Fingers", whose absence Steven points out.
- Onion fires the harpoon gun on Yellowtail's boat at a corrupt gem, and the two give a thumbs up, the same thing Onion did in "Bubble Buddies" when he tried to use a harpoon gun to free Connie and Steven from their bubble.
Issue #8
- Lost in the Maize: Lapis and Peridot grew a corn labyrinth for people to visit.
Issue #9
- Mundane Utility: When painting, Lapis realizes she can control water colors with her hydrokinesis.
- Series Continuity Error: Amethyst is wearing her first outfit this issue (and the next), even though Lapis and Peridot have already shown Steven their "meep morps", by which point Amethyst had reformed twice.
Issue #10
- Going Native: Amethyst realizes she doesn't know much about the animals she mimics, and decides to learn more by joining a group of squirrels.
Issue #11
- Call-Forward: It's implied Lars created the Big Donut's entry in a food contest, but won't admit it. "The Good Lars" showed Lars was good at baking, but didn't admit it to Steven until then (and both recipes are pumpkin-flavored).
- Carnivore Confusion: Pumpkin gets offended at the idea of people eating non-sapient pumpkins.
Issue #12
- Mythology Gag: After Pearl was established to dislike eating, one of the writers handwaved an early episode where she said she liked pie as Pearl liking the process of baking pie. In this comic, Pearl bakes some cupcakes with Steven and Connie while mentioning an interest in the science and chemistry behind food-making (and gets obsessed with precise measurements).
Issue #13
- Call-Forward: Acts as a sort of prequel for "Raising the Barn", as Lapis is worried about her safety on Earth, but not to the point of wanting to leave.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Lapis thinks it's easy for Garnet to stay calm in the face of the future when she has Future Vision. Garnet points out she can't be sure which future she sees will happen, and that even if Lapis can't see them all, her predictions and judgement can make the difference.
Issue #14
- Let's Put on a Show!: Steven tries to hold a small concert on the beach for Greg to play out.
Issue #15
- This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: Garnet unfuses because getting two gems out of a temple requires Ruby and Sapphire's heat and cold powers.
Issue #16
- Bizarre Taste in Food: Amethyst likes her halibut pizza with pineapple and mayonnaise.
- Cat Scare: Jenny, Kiki, Amethyst, and Steven have their car break down and seem to be menaced by something, suspected to be a corrupted gem, that stole Kiki's cellphone. Turns out it was just Lion.
Issue #17
- Anti-Escapism Aesop: Peridot gets addicted to a fighting game to take her mind off Lapis' departure, but she realizes she has to moderate her habits—especially when it's Steven's game she's playing.
Issue #18
- David Versus Goliath: Amethyst and Pearl decide to spar against Steven and Connie, which eventually turns into Stevonnie versus Opal.
Issue #19
- A Day in the Limelight: Focuses heavily on Sugilite, who hadn't been seen prominently in the show since her first appearance.
- It's All My Fault: Amethyst blames herself for Sugilite throwing away all the progress on building the house. Garnet chimes in to insist it was both of their faults.
- Rage Quit: Sugilite tries to lay the foundation for the house, gets frustrated when she doesn't match Pearl's design closely, and ends up wrecking all of it and telling Pearl to do it herself.
- Whole Episode Flashback: Details Greg and the Crystal Gems building Steven's house, being told as they repair the roof in the present.
Issue #33
- Noodle Incident: Garnet is fighting a giant something outside while the plot is going on, but we never find out what.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Knowing how Peridot gets about Camp Pining Hearts, as soon as Steven walks into the house to hear her discussing it with Amethyst and Pearl, he says, "Nope," and runs straight back out.
Anti-Gravity
- Covers Always Lie: Connie is on the cover, but never appears in the comic itself.
- Have You Tried Rebooting?: Ronaldo's advice for stopping a malfunctioning gem satellite is turning it off then on. When Pearl says they already did that, Ronaldo asks if they're sure they turned off the main device and not the "monitor". Steven then realizes he'd already passed by the power for the satellite's Tractor Beam.
- Interquel: Set sometime between "Bubbled" (Steven's memories of recent events include Eyeball holding her gem weapon) and "Rocknaldo" (Ronaldo has yet to discover the Crystal Gems are the "rock people" he's been theorizing about). The authors have described it as "Somewhere between Seasons 3 and 4", though some details suggest more toward the end of season fournote .
Harmony
- Affectionate Nickname: Sardonyx calls Peridot a "wasabi pea".
- Barrier Maiden: Steven contains the harmony core in his bubble, but can't teleport it away or safely move around while holding it. And even while in the bubble, it manages to affect people.
- Double-Meaning Title: The story focuses on both a Gem artifact called a "Harmony Core" and the band Steven is in trying to keep focused (or "keep the harmony") in his absence.
- False Reassurance:Sadie: So Steven can't come? Is he in space again?
Peridot: No, nothing as drastic as that. We simply found an unstable gem core that perhaps could end all life on Earth should Steven put it down for even a moment. - Hero Insurance: Discussed; Peridot claims she can keep a mission within the Crystal Gems' "acceptable collateral damage limit". When Pearl points out they have no such thing, Peridot thinks she means they don't even try to limit how much damage they do.
- Interquel: Takes places after Sadie and the Cool Kids form a band in "Sadie Killer" (and after Connie rejoined the Crystal Gems in "Kevin Party"), but before they catch their big break in "The Big Show" (and possibly before they had named their band some time by "Lars of the Stars").
- An Odd Place to Sleep: When Onion is found lying on the side of the road, it's assumed he had his consciousness taken by the Harmony Core. Turned out he was just napping.
- Rockers Smash Guitars: Peridot substitutes for Steven as Sadie Killer and the Suspects' guitarist, which she believes requires smashing a guitar—during a rehearsal. Buck is partially impressed, but Sadie is downright horrified.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: While looking for information in Homeworld's archives, the Topazes accidentally knock over the Harmony Core, kick-starting the events of the comic.
Ultimate Dough-Down
- Interquel: Dewey already has a job at the Big Donut and Steven doesn't understand his dreams about Pink Diamond, meaning it's sometime between "Letters to Lars" and "A Single Pale Rose".
- One Last Job: Sadie had already quit at the Big Donut to join her band, but her old boss manages to to corral her into representing Beach City for an annual event because none of her replacements are experienced enough.
Fusion Frenzy
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Garnet leaps into battle before she's had any formal training fighting as herself and was poofed fairly quickly. It took years for her to become the skilled fighter she is today.
Camp Pining Play
- Diegetic Visual Effects: When Peridot gets an idea for how to get props, an Idea Bulb appears next to her head. Next panel, it turns out to be an actual light bulb being dangled by Sour Cream.
- Either/Or Title: The title of the fanfic is Campers' Pining Hearts (or: a Story of Friendship and Love).
- Finger Muzzle: Lapis puts forth the idea of the fanfic becoming a real episode, then starts to say she's kidding before Peridot cuts her off with a finger to the mouth to say that that's a great idea.
- Hidden Eyes: When Peridot asks Lapis if she's okay doing the fake fusion scene with Steven, Lapis gets a shadow over her eyes as she says that she's fine. It happens again during the play, as the fake fusion scene approaches.
- Idea Bulb: When Peridot gets an idea for how to get props, a light bulb appears next to her head. Next panel, it turns out to be an actual light bulb being dangled by Sour Cream.
- Interquel: Set before "The Good Lars", which aired about two years earlier, as it features Lars on Earth, pre-resurrection.
- Leet Lingo: Lars published his fic under the username "xx54d4nd10ne1yxx" ("sad and lonely").
- Meaningful Echo: At the beginning, Lapis reads out a line of Percy's from the fanfic: "You're like, my favorite friend, Pierre!" At the end, she tells Peridot, "You're my favorite friend… Peridot."
- Ship Tease: After Lapis and Peridot have their heart-to-heart at the end, they hug and Lapis quotes a line of Percy's from the fanfic which was said in a romantic context.
- Spit Take: When Peridot goes into the Big Donut (where the Cool Kids are hanging out in earshot) and asks Lars if he's the author of the fanfic, he spits out his drink.
- Trauma Button: Fusion still makes Lapis uncomfortable, even if it's a fake fusion scene. She consents to the scene, wanting to be able to handle it for the sake of the group, but when the time comes to do it, she's frozen onstage with fear and ends up backing down.
- Unmanly Secret: Lars doesn't want the Cool Kids to know he wrote Camp Pining Hearts fanfiction, and agrees to let Peridot and Lapis adapt it into a play partially so they'll stop talking about it in public.
Crystal Clean
